Unhappy Beginnings
by Marigold-Scented-Candle
Summary: All in all, it was a happy ending to unhappy beginings. Edward X Hinata


The desert people where often segregated. Just like the Ishbalians, they were sometimes scorned for their faith in a god that wasn't what the rest of Amestris worshipped. People often called Lior the new Ishabal. But Edward and Alphonse Elric still wished that they could go back. Because in Germany the segregation was even worse. The Amestrian government had never restricted the rights of any of their citizens, and respected their melting pot culture.

Germany however, saw it differently. Anyone who wasn't purely German, who didn't follow their faith, who were different, who had different ideas, were hated. They weren't allowed to go out past a certain hours, they were tortured and even killed in the street with no warning.

She had been the victim of one of those incidents. They had found her in an alleyway, half conscious. Her pale skin had various bruises, and even a couple of cuts. Her wrist was swollen and red and blood escaped from the corner of her mouth and from her temple. She had gotten off easy it seemed since she was still breathing.

"Nii-san! Come here!" The younger Elric called out, quickly checking the girl for a pulse, which he luckily found.

"Al, if you found another cat we're not-"

"It's not a cat!" The girl's eyes fluttered and she groaned as the older Elric entered the alleyway. It was a strange scene to wake up to, two boys were arguing in an unfamiliar alleyway. The younger one, who looked to be around her own age of fifteen had hair like dry forest soil, and strong stormy gray eyes with a slight tinge of Ayran blue.

The older boy who looked to be about twenty or so, and had just entered the alleyway had hair like golden wheat, and a look of controlled concern in his eyes. The eyes of a Lithuanian she noticed, golden like his hair with a touch of brown. The two had obvious similarities, Their frowns were the same, and they had the same posture. They had determined chins and similar physiques, compact in certain ways but still strong considering the younger had taken her into his lap with very little effort. Needless to say, they were both extremely attractive, though the elder had something extremely exotic going for him, which held Hinata like a magnet.

"Is she alive Al?" the older asked and the younger nodded.

"Looks like she was just knocked out"

"Can you hear me?" She groaned again, opening her eyes in full this time, she nodded.

"Jeez. You really went and got your ass handed to you didn't you?" She blushed at the coarse words of the elder boy.

"I-I'm s-sorry. I-I don't mean t-t-to trouble you" He looked at her strangely.

"It's not troublesome for me. It's troublesome for you" She sat up, reluctantly taking herself out of the arms of the younger Elric.

"T-thank you for your help" She muttered, getting up and beginning to walk to the mouth of the alley despite her slight limp.

"Where are you going!" Each of them grabbed one of her hands, the same determined pout on both of their faces.

"I'm going away from here" she stated quietly.

"To get your ass kicked again?" She frowned at the older boy's comment, however true it was, she didn't like that they had seen it fit to stop her on her quest for self destruction.

"Why don't you stay with us?" The older started.

"Yeah! I'm sure Noah wouldn't mind another girl around" The younger smiled, and she frowned.

"I wouldn't want to burden you with an extra mouth to feed" she muttered.

"You kinda look like you could use some food" The younger stated, holding her indeed bony wrist a little tighter.

"I'll only bring you misfortune"

"Misfortune? Why would you bring us misfortune?"

"B-because"

"Because I'm a Jew!" she whipped around, and indeed, they could see the yellow star stitched onto her jacket, the word jude embroidered in cruel black.

" ein verschmutzt Sohn Davids*, Juden schwein*, Unarische*"

"Do you think I do not hear those things that you say to my people as they pass you in the streets?"

"We'd never say those things! And Noah's a Roma, we don't care about those stupid Nazi's and their idiotic ideas about who's better then who"

"Roma?" she stated. Questions clear in both the set of her brow and the frown in her eyes.

"A Gypsy" Hinata blinked, but smiled.

"You have a very nice smile miss. You should use it more often" She felt heat climb into her cheeks at the younger Elric's words.

"So what's your name?" The elder stated, a sort of half smile, and half smirk painted on his face. Oh how Hinata wished she could save that strange smile of his like the pressed flowers that she used to collect.

"I-I'm Hinata" The elder raised an eyebrow,

"That's an unusual name. I'm Edward Elric and this is my little brother Alphonse Elric"

"It's v-very nice to meet you both" Hinata stated shyly, shedding her jacket as she exited the alley with the two Elrics. Edward narrowed his eyes.

"Aren't you cold?" he stated gruffly, pointing rudely to the jacket that was folded carefully in her arms.

"I've endured much harsher winters" Edward raised an eyebrow.

"Munich is pretty damned cold if you ask me" He muttered sorely.

"Not if your from Russia and Hokkaido" She stated primly

"Hoka-what now?" Edward replied

"Hokkaido. It's a Japanese island, located off the coast of northern China. When I converted to Judaism after a couple of Jewish fisherman washed up on our island and taught me their faith, I went to Russia since it wasn't practiced where I lived. But after the pogroms* started, I left for Germany because I feared for my life. But it seems that even here they have begun to hate us"

"Damn. You've been all over the world haven't you? Still doesn't quite explain why you took your coat off" Hinata smiled.

"I suppose I have been a lot of places" she conceded

"I took off my coat so that neither of us would get in trouble. Jews aren't allowed to associate with people like you. When I take off my coat, I take off the predgudice. The truth is that these Germans couldn't tell if I was a Jew if it wasn't for that star on my coat" she pushed a little bit of hair out of her face.

"Then why were you wearing it out in the first place?" Hinata let out a little chuckle.

"Pride I suppose. I want to show them that I'm not ashamed of the way I worship god"

"That's idiotic" Edward stated bluntly crossing his arms.

"I suppose it is. I could just as easily say that I was Japanese, and people wouldn't beat me without reason" Edward smiled a little bit. Honestly, her stubbornness reminded him of himself, and her manner reminded him a little bit of his mother.

Hinata rubbed her arms and let out a huff of air, taking both a little bit of warmth and pleasure from both the friction the rubbing caused and the way her breath faded as it traveled to the heavens. Hinata had always thought that winter was the best time to say things to God, because your breath carried into the sky for Him to see.

"Goodness Edward, you may be a cute one, but you certainly prove that good old fashioned chiverly is dead!" Gracia scolded. Causing Hinata's cheeks to turn even more red.

"O-o-oh n-no m'am! Edward has b-been very kind t-to me! I'm j-just not cold is all" Hinata quickly stated despite a shiver. Gracia looked her over carefully, from shabby shoes to skinny red wrists.

"I recognize you!" Gracia smiled, but Hinata stiffened automatically. Gracia smiled.

"You usually come by and admire my flowers at about two or three, but today you didn't. I was wondering where you were" Hinata blushed.

"Looks to me like you got in some trouble with those Nazi idiots" Hinata nodded, but averted her eyes. Gracia sighed.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of. Those bullies tend to pick on the ones that stick out from the crowd. Especially girls since they can't handle anything their own size" Gracia's normally happy eyes fell slightly in sadness as she let a hand run through Hinata's long black hair.

"Oh goodness, what beautiful hair you have;You and Noah both. No wonder they picked you out so quickly" she turned her head.

"Noah! Could you come out here please? And bring a damp rag!" And with that Gracia pulled Hinata inside, rubbing her brisk hands over Hinata's numb arms, warming them. Noah appeared from the back of the shop, and felt her eyes widen at the shabby looking girl.

"Oh god..." Noah muttered. Handing the damp cloth to Gracia who wiped off the dirt and blood from the traveler's face. Giggling as they talked about the little things that all girls had in common.

"I-is there something wrong Noah?" Gracia stated, which caused Noah to look up from her daydreaming.

"Hm? Nothing's wrong! I'm just thinking" Noah smiled

"About?" Hinata asked quietly.

"You may not beleive me when I tell you this Hinata. But... I can see into peoples memories by touching them" Hinata smiled lightly.

"You're gifted. Where I come from, such things are embraced as gifts from God" She stated, letting her hand hold Noah's.

"What do you see?" Hinata stated calmly, seeming completely unperturbed at the gypsy's eyes sorting through her memory.

"A boy and a girl with brown hair and the same eyes as you. Your siblings?" Hinata smiled sadly.

"Sort of. The girl is my little sister, Hanabi, and the boy is Neji. He's my cousin, but he's always lived with us" Hinata tucked a bit of hair behind her ear.

"You miss them" Noah stated sadly. Hinata nodded.

"They were both so sad when I told them I was leaving. I wish... I wish I had been permitted to say goodbye... But Hiashi... He forbade me from it"

"Hiashi?" Noah stated.

"My father... Though he'd roll in his grave if he knew I called him that" Hinata let out a little humorless half chuckle.

"He barely even raised me. After Mother died he left us for years. Neji was the one who raised me, and I was the one who raised Hanabi. We took good care of each other, just like siblings should."

" Then Hiashi came back, and everything just turned upside-down from there. He hated the way that I raised Hanabi, and I hated him for leaving us. Hanabi loved him though. And I couldn't stand that, and I told her so...I d-didn't mean to make her cry... but that was the last time I saw her... The last time I saw e-either of them" she hugged herself tightly. Edward put a heavy metal hand on her shoulder.

"Your story... Is kinda similar to ours" He stated quietly.

"Except our old man left before Mom died" He smiled goofily, which made Hinata giggle a little bit.

"What's so funny!" Edward stated angrily.

"N-N-nothing Edward!" He rolled his eyes at her.

"If your going to lie, then do it properly" Hinata blushed, not bothering to deny that she had in fact been lying.

From that moment on the two became closer and closer. Edward hadn't taken all that much of an interest in the fairer sex after coming to Munich, but something about her caught his attention. She didn't remind him of Winry. Not in the slightest. Winry was loud and wasn't afraid to resort to violence to make a point, Hinata was quiet, and would never raise her hand against another, even if it meant her life. Plus, Hinata knew nothing of mechanics, and Winry knew nothing about flowers.

When he really thought about it, he decided that what attracted him to her was the fact that she was so utterly forgein. She was like him in a way, flung into a place with completly different langague, customs, and food, and was expected to act like she was from there, and not from her home. The homeland that Edward knew so much about from her stories about her friends and siblings. He knew of her dying culture, and in exchange she knew of his world. She knew of his family that had died, and the friends that he had left behind when he chose to close the gate.

Of course, neither of them had really been expecting their first kiss, because quite honestly it happened by accident. To put it in a nutshell, ice skating and terrible balance had been involved. It wasn't Hinata's bad balance of course. She was both a dancer and an expert at winter sports, it had been Edwards off kilter and inexperienced faltering feet that had catapulted them into kiss that blossomed into a relationship that entailed being more then best friends, and eventually into a marriage when they had decided to move to the United States, where Edward had made a name for himself by designing cars, and Hinata as a professor on Ainu history and culture.

This isn't to say that they didn't experiance discrimination on their way to their eventual success. Even though Hinata was part of the wronged party, many still glared at her as if she was the one killing all the young men that tried to invade her home country. Edward had a terrible time finding and keeping jobs because of his time spent in Munich and the small hint of a German accent. Which led many to classify him as a German, and therefore an enemy of the entire country, though he claimed to anyone that would listen that he had been born in the countrysides of Brittan.

They even had a child, who they named Noah, in honnor of their Roma friend who still lived with Alphonse in Munich. Said daughter's boyfriend lovingly nicknamed her an Axsis baby since she had been born to a Japanese mother and an German father which was eventually shortened to Axsis. All in all, a happy ending to unhappy beginnings.

**Okay, the stuff with stars.. **

**ein verschmutzt Sohn Davids: a dirty son of david, an racist insult against the Jewish people., **

**Juden schwein: jewish pig. Another racist insult, **

**Unarische: Basically means a non-aryan... also an insult. **

**Pogroms: Killings of jews in Russia. **

**Also, the Ainu are basically the indigenous population of Japan (meaning they are not ethnic Japanese, and have a different culture), their home island of Hokkaido (off the northern coast of China and the southern coast of Russia) was annexed into Japan after the Meji restoration. **

**Yeah... this is a birthday fic for lanenadelmanga15 She's awesome! Happy birthday darling! **


End file.
